Hi -- I'm just finishing up my first batch of feta from the first gallon of milk (collected over several days) from our first milking goat.

I followed the instructions, managed to keep the temp with a degree or two of the required 86F, but when I added the 1/2 rennet tablet (to 1 gal of milk with the mesiophilic (SP??), and stirred for 60 seconds, before I was done stirring, the liquid had "broken" and gone very thick and grainy looking. The final curds already look like feta (before complete draining), but I thought that the initial/beginning curds were supposed to be smooth and cut-able into nice chunks with the curd knife. I also added 1/4 tsp of CaCl, as suggested with goat milk (by the recipe).

Is this how it's supposed to go?

Thanks!

Andrea

-- Andrea Gauland (andreagee@aol.com), March 20, 2002

Answers

Naw, that's not how it's supposed to go. It sounds like your milk was already too acid (sour) when you put the rennet in, and it broke instead of forming a rennet curd, which is smooth and cut-able, as you said.

Probably your fridge isn't set cold enough. I find anything more than 32°F is too warm to store raw milk for very long. It plays heck with any lettuce in the fridge, of course, but them's the breaks...

So what you've done is made a lactic curd instead of a rennet curd, and lactic curd cheese tends not to hold their shape as well as needed to age or brine. I'd go ahead and finish, because what have you got to lose, but next time use only the freshest milk to make cheese.

Folks hear the phrase "use surplus milk to make cheese" and think it means use the leftover milk. The problem with that is that your cheese is never going to be any better than the milk you use to make it---if the milk is old, or off-flavored, you'll only achieve a skunky cheese no one wants to eat. No fun, there!

Much better is to use the freshest milk warm straight from the udder to handcraft your cheese, and use your old milk for something else---soap, or to make bisquits, or feed the pigs.

Use new milk for cheese.

-- Julia (charmer24@juno.com), March 20, 2002.

Meso. culture goes in first. Stir and let ripen about an hour.

Did you disolve your CaCl completely in 1/4 to 1/3 cup water before you added it to your milk? (Must do that.)

Be sure you crush and completely dissolve your rennet tablet in 1/4 cup milk before you add it to your milk. (Must do that.)

If you did all that, and you still had this problem, we need to look at the process again to see where it went wrong.

-- homestead2 (homestead@localnetplus.com), March 20, 2002.